


Soft Spot

by Marie_L



Category: Runaways (TV 2017)
Genre: Cute dinosaur, F/M, Gert POV, Mild Language, Season/Series 01, Young cynical love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-09
Updated: 2018-04-09
Packaged: 2019-04-17 16:12:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14192769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marie_L/pseuds/Marie_L
Summary: Gert's feeling despondant over certain parental revelations, and Chase joins her personal pet therapy session to try and cheer her up.





	Soft Spot

**Author's Note:**

  * For [chocolateer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chocolateer/gifts).



Gert sat against the wall of the humid tropical cage, surrounded by lush foliage, and gave her dino a rub on the nose. Technically she wasn't _her_ dinosaur – more like Gert was the dinosaur's pet-slash-friend than the other way around – but their psychic connection, plus Gert's current radical disillusionment with her parents, pretty much transferred ownership as far as she was concerned. Damn, she really needed to give her drooling lizard a name.

It felt like eons ago that she'd discovered there was a live Jurassic Park in her basement, and – oh, yeah – her parents were murdering psychos. Actual mad scientists, to slap a more accurate label on them. In reality it had only been a couple of weeks since the shocking revelations, but Gert's forebrain hadn't had time to process it yet. And the weird thing was, that wasn't even the most rocked part of her world. Getting the Pride Scooby gang back together, coming more into contact with _him,_ bothered Gert more.

She tried to tell herself that Chase was just a dumb jock, and he would turn out in the end just like all the other dumb jocks. She knew she was being cruel and unfair, and it simply wasn't true.

Dino gave a snort and rubbed against her cheek, maybe sensing through their freaky link Gert's less than sunny inner monologue. Gert scratched her under the chin just like she was a leathery dog. “Yeah, yeah, I know I should cut the mopey shit. Can't you let me languish in my angst for a few minutes?” she told her. The dinosaur responded by rubbing her snotty snout into Gert's neck. Nice.

There was a hesitant knock at the door, and Gert's throat seized. Probably one of the parental units, with their fake-real concern about her mental well-being. Clearly she and the dino needed a better place to hang out than her parents' lab. But then she heard Molly's voice through the reinforced steel. “Umm, Gert? We've got company. Chase.”

Gert scrambled up just as Dino bounded over to the airlock. She cracked the door, blocking the saur with her body. “Hey guys, what's up?” she said, putting on what she hoped was a casual face. God, that probably sounded fake.

“Do you, like, even have a phone?” Molly demanded. “You know you're off the grid when he even texts me to find you.”

Chase flushed pink at this, which Gert found simultaneously annoying and adorable. “Uh, sorry to bother your alone time,” he said. “It's just, you seemed, um... more agitated than usual the last couple of days. When you didn't respond back, I thought I'd, you know, check in.”

 _Agitated?_ Well, sure, she'd been on the warpath with a couple of new petition drives the last couple of days, and in AP calc – which she shared with Chase – she'd called out Mr. Green for his obviously sexist story problems for the fundamental theorem. That wasn't agitation, though, that was _leadership._ Somebody had to step up in an inequitable world.

“I'm fine,” she told them. “Just wanted a quiet minute in the Cretaceous.”

Chase leaned back, seemingly unsure how far to push. Molly crossed her arms and frowned. All three of them stood around in awkward silence for a few seconds, until Gert sighed.

“Okay, fine, why don't you step into my office?” she said, waving her hand towards Dino and the musty hot cage, which Chase peered into with widened eyes. “Can you give us a minute, Molls? I promise there won't be any blood to clean up at the end.”

Molly waved at hand at them in a patented _whatever_ gesture, and stomped back up the stairs. Gert turned and gave Chase a half smile as he hesitantly slipped around her to enter the chamber.

“So, this is her home?” he asked, after a moment. “Kinda small for a telepathic dinosaur.”

“Oh sure, I should totally take her on walks or something,” Gert replied. “Put her on a leash, jog around Brentwood alongside nannies power-walking babies in their Bugaboos and nipping at the heels ofsome Hollywood executive’s corgi.”

Chase laughed, and Gert gave him another smile, deeper this time, genuine. She plopped herself back down into position along the side wall, and Chase joined her. Close enough to be friendly, not too close to be intimate, despite the cramped surroundings.

“Listen, I didn't want anything major,” Chase said. “I really did just want to know how you were doing. This whole thing is...weird, you know?”

Gert bit back her sarcasm at the understatement of the century. “Yeah. Pretty weird. Not everyday you find out your parents are cultists, kidnappers and murderers. But you know what really bugs me about it? The _hypocrisy_. All my life they portrayed themselves as these do-gooders, you know, saving the world one magical potion at a time. But they're really just as dirty as everyone else.”

“Yeah, can't say I have that problem,” Chase replied. “Always known Dad was a bastard, just not how much. I guess you and Karolina have had the biggest shock.”

Gert pushed down the reflexive twinge of jealousy at Karolina's name. It wasn't her friend's fault she was, like, a gorgeous sweet blonde girl who was legitimately _nice_. Like honey to the wasps of the world. “But your mom always seemed like a good person. Isn't it a shock to find out she's involved just as much as your dad?”

“Yeah. I guess so. But I wonder if he made her do it, or roped her in somehow. She's never been one to stand up for herself. Why she's still with him, I guess.”

Gert was silent for minute, not knowing how to comfort him. She didn't really know the details of the Steins' marriage, or any of the others, for that matter. It sounded bad, but in truth she didn't know what “bad” entailed, what her friends might be enduring behind their perfectly coiffed appearances.

“Huh. I guess I never thought of it, but for all their faults my parents are, you know, fiercely devoted to each other. Maybe that's how they got in, to protect each other, or us. We don't know how it all started.”

“Nothing justifies what they've done, Gert,” Chase said. “Even if they say it was for us, that's just an excuse. That just puts the blood on our hands, you know? Taking the life of a bunch of other kids in exchange for ours? Who are we to deserve that?”

“We're the privileged children of rich parents,” Gert said sardonically. Her dinosaur lay down in front of them, and put her head into Gert's lap. “I mean, I live here in this shitty house, but it's in _Brentwood_ for Pete's sake. It's only shitty in comparison to...”

“To mansions like my dad's?” Chase was bitter too. Maybe they could become young bitter misanthropes together.

“I was actually thinking of Nico's, they have that creepy smarthouse AI,” Gert said.

“I dunno, Alex's is basically a post-modern castle on a hill with a hidden magic dungeon for sacrifices underneath,” Chase countered. “That's got to take the award Rich People's Evil Villain Lair.”

Gert laughed again, as only you can at the absurd. “And on top of that, La Paloma High isn't good enough, we allshlep to a school that costs fifty grand a year. Not exactly the hoi polloi.”

“Hey, at least you're aware of it, and you care.”

Gert flinched at the platitude. “Caring isn't good enough either. We can't just stand around while evil pays for our happy little Stepford lives. We've got to do something. Stop them.”

“Are we, like, arguing the same argument here?”

They both chuckled this time, and Gert decided to make a move. Nothing too overt, for it was still hard to tell if Chase had any interest at all beyond the platonic. She wasn't ready to potentially shatter their rebudding friendship with any awkward rejections. She leaned to one side towards him, and rested her head on his shoulder, even as the dinosaur had her snoozey head in Gert's lap.

“It's nice to have the gang back,” she murmured. Too earnest, but it was the truth.

Chase smiled at her, his hazel eyes dark in the reddish lighting. Beautiful. She couldn't say that out loud, not yet.

“Yeah,” he said. “I missed you. All of you.”

It was a weirdly vulnerable thing to say, from a guy at least. Somehow the admission made him even more attractive, besides the pretty face. _Aww, t _o hell with it,__ she thought. Bad mojo was probably going to go down soon. In the calm before the storm, they should both live a little.

Gert crooked her head and looked him straight in the eyes. Chase didn't avoid the stare, although he had a tiny bit of uncertainty in his eyes, like he wasn't one hundred percent sure this was actually happening. She took that as good enough for an exploratory kiss.

Chase didn't flinch away.

It was sweet and soft, as she imagined it might be with him. Just enough to send a tremble down her neck. His hesitancy turned out to be a plus, as they slowly explored each other, only deepening it as they both realized they did indeed want it.

Only to be interrupted by a wet, stinky, rough tongue grazing from Gert's cheek to Chase's. They both jerked away, Chase's eyes now truly revolted and alarmed. Gert couldn't help but burst out laughing.

“Why are you laughing? That was truly, _truly_ gross,” Chase said, wiping his face with a sleeve. “Wait, I mean her, not you. You were great. Um, you know what I mean.”

“But she _likes_ you,” Gert said, unable to keep more of the laughter contained. “Highlight of my week.”

“Do _you_ like me?” Chase asked quietly.

Gert put her hands on his shoulders and forcibly straightened her face. “Dude, did I not just make that clear?”

His face slowly lit up from uncertainty to relief. Exposed. Chase never could keep that vulnerability buried too deep. Another thing of beauty about him. She wondered if she was at all beautiful back to him, but didn't have the guts to ask that yet. Only to charge forward, to lead, and hope he came along.

“I'm not having a subtle day,” she added, and leaned forward to kiss him again.

  



End file.
